How to make a piñata by yourself at home - a collection of the most original ideas for boys and girls
A piñata is a children's hollow toy from Mexico inside, filled with surprises. Everyone loves surprises. And in such a presentation they become even more original.
Now such a toy has become widely used in celebrations in Russia, both for children and adults.
Using a piñata
Blindfolded guests must use a small stick to knock down a papier-mâché-style ball hanging from the ceiling (or on a tree branch outside).
Candy (or other filler items) are scattered from it. The guests need to pick them up quickly. The one who collects the most candy is the winner.
You can leave a window in the piñata. It will open if you pull the ribbon. For the version with a window, you can change the rules by adding ribbons. All guests can pull any one ribbon. Whoever opens the surprise toy wins.
Materials and tools needed
To create a piñata, you will need:
- A balloon (when inflated, it must be of a sufficiently capacious volume);
- toilet paper or newspaper sheets;
- Glue or PVA glue
- Ribbon or string for attaching;
- colored paper;
- regular cardboard or box parts;
- cardboard box;
- office knife;
- awl;
- duct tape;
- scissors;
- duct tape.
How to make a piñata with your own hands
Such an original surprise for the holiday is quite easy to make. Even children will be able to do the process. In this article, we will introduce you to the easiest ways to make a piñata and the more complex ones.
To make a beautiful piñata, you have to decorate the frames. Most often, they are decorated with corrugated paper. Cover the craft with overlapping paper fringe. Let the toy dry for about 24 hours, then proceed to decorate it. It depends on the holiday theme:
- you can decorate with bright satin ribbons;
- Paint with acrylic paints;
- Glued pictures depicting popular heroes of fairy tales;
- in addition to corrugated paper, you can take bright foil (like a disco ball);
- figures to decorate a piñata can be for a birthday;
- A variety of homemade flowers, suns, etc.
- From a box
The easiest way to make a piñata:
- We take a box of the desired size.
- Fill it with candy or any other fillings (will depend on the type of party and the contingent of guests).
- Wrap a box of surprises crosswise with a string.
- We decorate the box with paper on the type of gift, fasten it with scotch tape.
- Glue any pictures or other decorations suitable for the style of the holiday.
Made of cardboard
Piñata can look like a three-dimensional figure. For example, a unit can be made as follows:
- On a dense cardboard, draw 2 identical blanks of the number 1, cut them out with scissors or a stationery knife.
- Then cut suitable size rectangles from the same cardboard. The thickness of the piñata will correspond to the width of the rectangles.
- Connect the two parts of the figures, inserting between them the desired rectangles, adhesive tape of paper.
- At the bottom of the product cut a window. We will use it to pour candy, and then during the holiday to open the piñata.
- Cut fringe from strips of corrugated paper, glue them overlapping, all over the surface of the craft. The paper can be the same or different colors.
- On top of the craft, attach a ribbon or string to hang the toy.
From paper
For making such a piñata, you will need toilet paper or newspapers that are cut into strips or torn into pieces. Paper cut in strips will help you save time on creating a surprise toy. Prepared paper is glued on an inflated balloon in the papier-mâché technique.
The papier-mâché technique
- Get acquainted with the classic variant of working on the frame of a surprise toy.
- Inflate the balloon of the desired volume, tie the end.
- Cut the newspaper into 20x1.5 cm strips.
- The first layer to put on the ball without gaps strip, just soaked with water. Do not tape only in the area of the tip. Here in the future we will put the filler inside.
- Allow the paper to dry and then glue it on, using glue.
To prepare it you need:
- Wheat flour - 1⁄4 tbsp;
- Boiling water - 0,5 l;
- cold water - 1 tbsp;
- starch - 2 s.l.
Having prepared all the necessary components, you can proceed to the preparation:
- We mix the starch with flour.
- Pour into this mixture with cool water, stir everything.
- Add boiling water to the resulting solution, stir thoroughly and cool.Apply the starch as soon as it cools. The mixture spoils quickly. Prepare it just before making the handicraft. Apply the paste with a narrow paint brush.
- Place newspaper strips in the paste so that they are well smeared on both sides. Then glue them on the first layer. When the layer is completely ready, it should dry well.
- In the same way we apply 4 more layers. The base of the piñata will be ready when it dries well.
Choice of shape
There are two ways to choose a mold for the piñata. Let's take a step-by-step look at the process of creation.
The round piñata
A round piñata can be made from a latex balloon:
- Pump it up with a pump, tie the end with a thread.
- We glue the frame in papier-mâché technique.
- When it is completely dry, cut the tail of the balloon. It will come down, and we can easily take it out.
The round piñata is ready! We only need to hang it and decorate it.
Piñata with cones
A piñata with cones looks very original:
- Make the body with papier-mâché technique.
- Then make cones out of cardboard. On a piece of cardboard we draw 3-4 circles (you can circle something round: a lid, the bottom of a pot, etc.) and cut them out. Cut in half. Of each half of the roll cone, fasten at the joints with pieces of tape. You can use ready-made caps from the store.
- When you fill the piñata and close the hole, you can glue the cones wherever you want.
- Decorate the body and cones with strips of crepe paper cut with fringe.
- The cones can be glued to the base so that the piñata looks like a star.
Original ideas
Such a surprise toy can surprise not only with its contents, but also with its appearance.
Minecraft and Lego.
You can make a piñata for a boys' party in the form of a character from Minecraft:
- Let's take a box of the right volume. Glue 2 or 4 legs from the smaller boxes at the bottom.
- Glue sticky tape at the bottom of the box so the candy filling does not fall out before time.
- Gradually smear the entire surface of the box with glue and glue a continuous sheet of tissue paper.
- From the same paper we cut wide strips (about 10 cm). Fold in half lengthwise and cut with a fringe.
- Such strips decorate the box, gluing them from the bottom to the top.
- The central part of the front side is not glued.
- Cut out 5 black squares of colored paper. Glue the face Kipper.
- Make serpentine: cut colored paper with a stationery knife into 0.5 cm wide strips. Twist with a pencil or pen.
- On the top of the box for fixing the rope with an awl pierce holes.
- You can make confetti from corrugated paper with a hole punch.
- Put candy, confetti and streamers in the piñata.
- Attach a hanger, seal the lid with masking tape.
- Glue the top of the craft with a solid cloth, decorate with fringe.
Sweet explosives are ready!
Unicorn
The fairytale characters unicorns will also be an interesting theme for the piñata:
- We make 2 circles with a radius of 24 cm and a strip with a length equal to the length of the circle (about 75 cm) and a width of 18 cm. of heavy cardboard (you can take parts of a cardboard box).
- On the strip we put a mark through 7.5 cm and cut the edges with teeth (through one).
- You should also cut a small hole to fill the finished toy. After it is filled, it is taped together with duct tape.
- Tuck the colored ribbons into the holes made in the strip, fasten them on the underside.
- Do the same with the ribbons to hang the piñata.
- Glue it with a glue gun strip to the first circle, bending teeth. Likewise, the other circle.
- Round sides of the crafts paste white corrugated paper.
- Of the same paper we cut narrow or wide (optional) strip. Cut them all in the form of fringes.
- Glue the strips to the side of the unicorn so that the fringe is loose and there is no gap.
- It remains only to decorate the muzzle: glue eyes, cheeks, ears and horn from colored cardboard or foamirin.
- Decorate the handicraft with homemade paper flowers.
New Year's figures
For Christmas and New Year's holidays, make a piñata in the form of a Christmas tree ball or snowman with original candy coins inside. You can add notes with predictions, greeting cards.
For such a piñata will need the same materials as for the usual one, but it should be decorated according to the holiday.
To portray a snowman, glue the eyes, mouth, nose, and carrot nose on the white fringe, and attach a plastic toy bucket to the head.
Piñata - a Christmas toy, decorate brightly, add glitter decorations.
Heart-shaped
Such a piñata will greatly decorate a Valentine's Day party, a wedding celebration or a wedding anniversary:
- The first thing to do is to draw a heart template on cardboard from the box and cut it out with scissors. We trace the template on the other part of the box and also cut it out.
- The sides to staple will be strips of the same cardboard of suitable length, the width of which you determine yourself, depending on the size of the future piñata.
- To make the sides bend properly - wrap a can of the desired diameter in them.
- You can glue all the parts together with masking tape.
- Before gluing the bottom part of the heart, fill the accessory with candy or small hearts cut out of paper.
- Fix the ribbon on top of the heart.
- Decorate such a festive accessory can be cut out of corrugated paper circles, hearts or tinsel.
- In the central part of the heart, you can place a photo of the newlyweds or wedding anniversary celebrants.
In the form of animals
If a fun holiday is planned - a piñata will be a great surprise moment. You can make a toy in the form of characters from cartoons, such as Angry Birds or Smeshariki.
An ordinary piñata can be made to look like an angry bird, or Nyusha, or Kar-Karych, etc. For this, glue suitable eyes, wings, tails, ears, etc., cut out of paper.
Filling the piñata
Depending on the theme of the holiday, the piñata can be filled with:
- candy,
- streamers,
- confetti in different shapes,
- notes with wishes and predictions,
- small toys,
- souvenir money,
- bracelets,
- trinkets,
- hairpins,
- rose petals,
- nuts.
The stuffing should not occupy all the space of the body, but only half of it, so that the toy is not very heavy and does not tear before its time.
You should not use for filling heavy objects or with sharp edges, so they can not injure the guests.
For boys, small cars and figurines of soldiers will do. Girls will like hairpins, elastic bands, bows, bracelets.
To make a toy piñata do not need to have special skills. For creating and decorating suit materials that are always at home. Create, and your children, relatives and guests will be happy!